Little Fingers Big Art Celebrates 1st Birthday!!

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What better way to celebrate the 1st birthday of Little Fingers Big Art than to feature a craft post on how to make gorgeous birthday hats!? Complete with templates for the hats and accessories, this post marks our first year on the blogosphere and provides teachers and educators with a fun way to celebrate each students’ birthday in the upcoming school year. For this craft, I used our R15263 Tie Dye Paper to add a pop of color and style to the traditional birthday hat designs.

P.S. Don’t forget to VOTE FOR US at the Martha Stewart American Made contest!

Age: 5+

Duration: 15-20 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R15263 Tie Dye Paper

• Party Hat Template

• Party Hat Decoration Template

• Scissors

• Tape

• Scrapbooking Scissors

• Pencil

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Happy Birthday to our blog! I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by, but it’s just in time for the start of the next school year.

This year, we are striving to give you only the very best aspects of our online content–originality, quality, educational and social relevance, and inspiration for better and more exciting projects!

Today’s craft challenge is featured below the project instructions!

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First, assemble all your materials. You will need to grab the templates from the materials listed above. Print out your templates on 8½ x 11″ (21.5 x 28 cm) sheet of paper. Students will exercise plenty of fine motor skills as they cut out the various pieces for this craft!

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Start with your hat template. Place it onto a sheet of R15263 Tie Dye Paper and trace the template outline onto the sheet.

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Cut out the hat outline from the R15263 Tie Dye Paper.

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Roll the hat cutout into a cone shape. The two flat sides of the cutout should slightly overlap as you roll it. Tape the edges together.

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Next you will need to make the decorative edge for the hat. Use scalloped scrapbooking scissors to cut about ¾” (2 cm) up into the brim of the hat at intervals. Make the tabs wide or thin depending on your preference. Fold out each tab as you cut.

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This is what the brim of the hat should look like. It’s almost ready for celebrating!

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To make the decorative tassel at the top of the hat, cut out a strip of R15263 Tie Dye Paper, about 2 x 4″ (5 x 10 cm) wide.

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Roll the paper strip into a tight cylinder. Tape the bottom edge of the tassel to hold it in place.

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Slip the taped end of the tassel into the hat. You can secure it to the hat with an additional strip of tape. Cut several times straight into the top edge to about halfway down.

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Spread the cut portions apart and curl outwards using the blunt side of a scissor blade. The tassel adds a bit of a festive edge to the birthday hat. What other kinds of tassel ideas can you come up with?

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Print out the separate template for the birthday hat accessories. You can make butterflies, stars, hearts and more to decorate the hat! Each template comes in two different sizes to give your students the best customizing options available. Download it here: Party Hat Decoration Template!

Cut out the templates for the accessories. You’ll notice that the templates only come in halves. The dotted line indicates the exact middle of the whole shape. This makes it easier for students to cut the shapes out from the R15263 Tie Dye Paper.

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Fold a sheet of R15263 Tie Dye Paper in half. Place your templates’ dotted lines along the fold line. Trace the outlines onto the R15263 Tie Dye Paper.

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Cut the shapes out along the traced line. When you are finished, unfold the shapes to reveal your assortment of decorations for the birthday hat!

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Tape the back of each accessory onto the hat. Vary the angles that you place the accessories, or use a different sheet of the R15263 Tie Dye Paper to add different colors to the hat.

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Hole punch through opposite sides of the hat. Attach pipe cleaner to either end. When the hat is ready to be worn, secure the opposite ends of the pipe cleaners together to hold in place.

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CRAFT CHALLENGE:

Come up with your own accessories to add to your birthday hats! What are some interesting and unique ways to design your accessories? Replace the tassel at the top of the hat with materials such as streamers or beaded string! Send us photos of your work!

Don’t forget to VOTE FOR US at Martha Stewart’s American Made Contest!

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I recommend that every student make one birthday hat for her or himself at the beginning of the year. Keep the hats somewhere safe where they won’t get ruined. On the day that particular students are celebrating their birthdays, get them to wear their own hat throughout the day! Send us photos of your work to subscriber@roylco.ca for a chance to be featured in one of our upcoming posts! We’d love to hear your comments, questions or suggestions!

Little Fingers Big Art just received the Versatile Blogger Award!!

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Thank you so much to our huge fan, OntheUpCycle, who just recently bestowed us with the Versatile Blogger Award! Learn more about the award HERE. You can check out her amazing projects at ontheupcycle.wordpress.com!

In order to receive the reward, LittleFingersBigArt must participate in the rules required by the status of this award. They are as follows:

1. Display the Award Certificate on your blog. CHECK!

2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger who nominated you. CHECK!

3. Present 15 deserving bloggers with the award. SEE BELOW!

4. Link your nominees in the post and let them know of their nomination with a comment. CHECK!

5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself. CHECK!

I want to first honour several of our favorite bloggers with the Versatile Blogger Award. Please check out some of these incredible websites as they strive to give the best content and interact with their fellow bloggers with caring dedication.

Drumroll, please….

1. Squarehead Teachers

2. ArtwithMsK

3. CraftyStaci

4. PeaBea

5. Crafty Madre

6. Crafted in Carhartt

7. Franciful Arts

8. Make Something Mondays

9. Nerd in the Brain

10. Florence and Freddie

11. DaniellaJoe

12. Mummy of Many Talents

13. Craft and Repeat

14. 2 Craft and 2 Create

15. Crayon Box Chronicles

Now onto 7 interesting things about Little Fingers Big Art:

1. The creative folks at Roylco began this website exactly ONE YEAR ago! We’ve made it so far with the help of our favorite crafty fans who always make us feel like our work is worthwhile. Look forward to this week’s Birthday Post!! Check back for more details!

2. The content for Little Fingers Big Art is written in our Canadian office in Waterloo, Ontario. If you would like to get in touch with us about sponsoring for upcoming arts and crafts events, please drop us a line!

3. Here at Roylco, we have a huge manufacturing plant that assists us in keeping our products domestic, affordable and, above all, high quality.

4. This past year, Roylco hosted a 3 day Summer Art Camp for children ages 3-10. We had a blast with our little crafters who let their creativity shine with our versatile products. Stay tuned every Monday for our special Craft Spotlight posts, where we highlight the best products with detailed videos and high resolution photos of our Art Camp exploits! We’ll be updating with more information about Summer Art Camp 2014!

5. Roylco works closely with local organizations such as art galleries, museums and libraries, AND hosts workshops at Early Learning Centers across the province! To learn more about our support or to book a workshop with us, please send an email to subscriber@roylco.ca. You can also visit THIS PAGE for more information!

6. Our ideas are usually produced in our art room, where bundles of materials and supplies are kept for inspiring new products and crafty creations!

7. Finally, Little Fingers Big Art is climbing the ranks in the Martha Stewart American Made contest–please visit THIS page for more information on how to vote for us! We appreciate any votes we get.

Thanks again to On the Upcycle for her award. Happy blogging!

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Craft Spotlight: Bunting Flags

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Welcome to our first Craft Spotlight post! These posts will be published every Monday to showcase our favorite craft projects developed and manufactured domestically by Roylco! This week’s feature craft is R22046 Bunting Flags! 

Bunting Flags are cut from heavier paper and are great for painting on! Use regular tempera paint for coloring the flags. Welcome back your class with a fun decoration or get the entire class to work on one together!

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We wrote the words “2013 Summer Art Camp” across our Bunting Flags during the Roylco Art Camp, and got some of our young crafters to paint all the letters of the alphabet.

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Use the flags for making classroom decorations! Write one letter/number per Bunting Flag.

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Some of our crafters even drew scenes and combined several colors together. This is a great way to explore new ways of displaying students’ artwork! All of your students’ art can be hung up along a single wall like a bunting flag line!

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Show us your students’ artwork! Hang up your students’ painted Bunting Flag artwork and send us a photo of what it looks like in your classroom. We will publish a post on your work and show the rest of the arts and crafts education world! Send us an email to subscriber@roylco.ca!

Rolly Scrolly Mix Up Art Game

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This is a great icebreaker activity for your new classroom. Start out your day with giggles and fun! Draw a mixed-up character on sections of our R15406 Rolly Scrolly Paper, then unfold the entire thing to reveal a hilarious creation.

Age: 5+

Duration: 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R15406 Rolly Scrolly Paper

• Crayons

• Imagination!

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This is a super easy activity for kids of all ages to try out! First, divide your class into groups of four. Students should each get one Rolly Scrolly to work on. Show your students how to fold the Rolly Scrolly into four equal sections. To do this, first fold the entire Rolly Scrolly in half. Fold the Rolly Scrolly once more in half.

You will need to rotate the Rolly Scrolly so that the fold line is at the bottom.

The Rolly Scrolly has four sections. Each of these sections will make up parts of a character. Draw your character’s face on the first section. Draw a pirate, a princess, a firefighter… anything!

When you are done drawing your character’s face, unfold the first section to the next blank section. Tuck the first section behind the second section. This part is MOST important: Pass your mystery Rolly Scrolly artwork to the person on your left. The person on your right should give you their hidden Rolly Scrolly artwork at the same time. Draw a fun shirt for the mystery character!

Repeat the previous step once you have finished drawing the shirt section. Fold this section of the Rolly Scrolly Paper underneath the previous section, then pass onto your left neighbor.

For the third section, draw pants, shorts, skirt, or a Superhero’s underwear!

For the fourth and final section, draw legs and feet. Give your character sneakers, high heels or rain boots. Have fun experimenting!

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By this time, your Mix Up Rolly Scrolly character should make its way back again to you. When you receive it, unfold the sheet completely to reveal your hilarious character! P.S. Give your character a name once you’re finished drawing him/her!

Check out the video below for more details.

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Try out this activity and show us what hilarious characters you and your students come up with! Send your photos to subscriber@roylco.ca!!

Julie from the Land of Lost Luggage uses our Color Diffusing Sealife!

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Julie shared a wonderful art lesson with her readers about dispersion and diffusion… using our R2446 Color Diffusing Sealife! Check out her post for a colorful display of her daughter’s artwork!

This post is entitled “Teach Art to Your Children V 1.4” and was published on February 18, 2011.

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Julie and her daughter used washable markers to color the Sealife images. They placed the Color Diffusing shapes onto paper towel to keep the color from seeping through during their next step.

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After coloring, they placed baby wipes onto the shapes and misted them with water. Lifting up the wipes revealed a beautiful assortment of colors and patterns on the Sealife shapes.

Check out Julie’s series on teaching children art at her website, Land of Lost Luggage.

Thanks to Julie for this creative post!

Images and original post © The Land of Lost Luggage.

Don’t forget to VOTE FOR US at Martha Stewart’s American Made Contest!

This post was not sponsored for a review. At LittleFingersBigArt, our mission is to present to our readers and viewers the newest and most creative craft ideas that fans of Roylco have made on their own. Our goal is to allow you and other educators and parents to reuse our products in fun ways so that children always get the best educational experience from them!

We’d love to see more ideas like this one! If you’ve got a brilliant craft idea or have made a version of one of our crafts that you would like to share with us, send an email to subscriber@roylco.ca with photos, descriptions or a link to your work. We will create a feature post and link back to you with full credit. We’d love to hear from you!

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